


Hawaiian Safari

by Nitrobot



Category: Hotline Miami (Video Games)
Genre: Drabble, F/M, I needed corey/tony okay, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-23
Updated: 2016-01-23
Packaged: 2018-05-15 18:06:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5794465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nitrobot/pseuds/Nitrobot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Mark just likes the free food, the twins are a pair of freaks and I'm a fucking walking homicide. We all belong here, one way or another, except you. So what makes you so goddamn special?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hawaiian Safari

**Author's Note:**

> Set during the 1985 war in Hawaii, a few weeks before the Stronghold mission.

They all had their own ways of coping with the war, the heat, the bugs that wouldn't stop biting at night. Alex and Ash jokingly left each other whatever they had left back in Miami in palm leaf wills, Mark lamented over what his last meal would be, and Tony...

Well, Tony punched things. Not people, thankfully- not often, at least. Corey and everyone with any inch of preservation instinct left in their bodies after the tremors passed knew not to bother him until he'd broken something, whether it was an object or a bone. 

But September 1st, the ninth chapter of the war-torn year, eventually brought her to his own stolen corner of paradise anyway. 

"Tony?"

He slammed another bloodied knuckle into the shredded palm tree trunk, grunting more than speaking as the bark cut into his skin. "Fuck off."

That was the expected response, but Corey had more to say before she could gratefully obey. "Commander wants us outside an hour before dawn tomorrow," she passed on, passing a hand subconsciously through her razor-shredded locks and stubble stubbornly growing just to spite regulation haircuts. "Just thought I'd save you a lecture when you end up sleeping in."

Tony wiped a damp leaf over his cracked fingers, rain mixing with fresh blood in a muted sunset glow as he readied them for another punch. At least he'd tire himself out before anyone else. "Well... thanks," he huffed, gritting his teeth only slightly as he pressed his ripped knuckles into his palms. She nodded, digging her own hands into her jacket pockets as the day's warmth slipped behind the fern-lined horizon, her back to the fading sunset as she traced back down the dirt path to camp. 

"Corey..." She stopped, feet skidding in the soft mud. Tony was never one to use names, or start conversation in any way. Turning back, facing the man as sunlight illuminated his ragged, sour edges, she wondered if she'd just imagined his voice before he spoke again. "Why did you come here?" Even though he still growled around every word and studied his ruined fists instead of making eye contact, Corey had the sense that he was trying to reach out to her for some ungodly reason. 

"Because the army sent me," she answered, holding back a shrug.

His wrists froze, head lifting on a rusty hinge as sharp incisors glinted in the gloom. It wasn't so much a smile as it was a snarl. "And why do you let _them_ fuck you around?" he asked, placing his hands on his waist even as they left deep red stains on his clothes. "Mark just likes the free food, the twins are a pair of freaks and I'm a fucking walking homicide. We all belong here, one way or another, except you. So what makes you so goddamn special?"

This time she thought a shrug would be appropriate. "Just wanted to serve my country."  
"Bullshit."

"Might be, but it's the truest bullshit I know." It was as true as she was willing to admit to anyone in any case, even to herself. 

Tony shook his head, still smiling at some kind of inside joke she couldn't guess at. "And where's that holy patriot shit gotten you, huh?" He answered for her, "Dumped in America's sweating asshole, just waiting to die like the rest of us."

Corey raised an eyebrow, as much challenge as she was willing to give. "I can think of worse places to die," she said.

Tony snorted at the back of his throat, shaking one of his hands and splattering the dirt with blood drops. "You don't get out much, then." His stance changed, now facing a new unmarked tree that he immediately unleashed a flurry of snapping blows on. The soft wood buckled only slightly under the fierce impact, and left splinters as retaliation embedded in his fingers.

Corey watched him curse and punch back even harder, wondering what the point of it was. "So are you planning to destroy the _entire_ island in one night or are you just doing it one tree at a time?" she sighed. 

That made him stop once more, as if jolted out of a violent trance, and he was reluctantly smiling again as he looked at her. "You got anything better to do?"

"TV reception is pretty shit over here, but there's a Miami Dolphin's game on tonight," she said.

His lips curled over, incisors still showing over them. "I never liked football."

Corey shrugged, swinging around on a leg quickly going numb from standing around. "Well, my cabin door's always open," she offered.

"You should lock it, then..." Tony said after her, rubbing a row of knuckles free of wood fragments. "Animals might get in."

The sun finally set, sinking the scene of forest carnage into a darkness punctuated by hard smacks and inhuman snarls.


End file.
